Truck drivers typically kick or hit their tires with a stick or the like to determine whether any of them are flat. With tractor-trailer rigs having as many as five axles to which there are journaled twenty tires, checking this many tires at each stop represents a significant inconvenience, particularly in the presence of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. When one tire is flat obviously the remaining tire must carry twice its normal load. When the entire truck can weigh up to 100,000 pounds each pair of tires can be loaded with approximately 5,000 pounds. Thus, there is a much increased risk of the remaining adjacent non-flat tire developing a flat and causing a dangerous situation for the truck and driver. Consequently, there is needed a simple, convenient method for testing the condition of the tires of such trucks.
An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for automatically detecting the condition of vehicle tires.